Three weeks from today, Southern Miss will take the field at Davis Wade Stadium to renew its intrastate rivalry with Mississippi State.

Southern Miss head coach Todd Monken says the key to stopping Dak Prescott is forcing him to throw in third-and-long situations.
Jason Munz/Hattiesburg American

It may seem like a long time, but Golden Eagle head coach Todd Monken has already begun formulating a game plan for the tilt with the Bulldogs.

Especially when it comes to the plan of attack versus highly touted Bulldog quarterback Dak Prescott.

"It's not easy to get to him," Monken said. "They don't run a lot of drop-back. They do a great job with the run game, then play action off of it to put you in a run-pass conflict."

He added the biggest difficulty when facing off against the MSU offense is getting to Prescott.

Last season, Prescott was the Bulldogs' leading rusher with 829 yards and 13 touchdowns. He also threw for 1,940 yards and added 10 more scores through the air.

"We've got to find a way to get (them) into long yardage (situations) and find a way to put them in a situation where they have to throw it," Monken said.

On the offensive side of the ball, the second-year Southern Miss coach said the goal — with three weeks left until kickoff — is to continue to concentrate on the Golden Eagles.

The Bulldogs allowed just 23 points per game a year ago, and were particularly stingy against the run.

"They're outstanding," Monken said. "They return a number of guys. I thought at the back half of last year, they were playing as well as anybody. So they've got a lot of confidence.

"We've just got to really worry about us. (If) we do things better, (if) we control us, then we have a chance against anybody. If we don't, then it won't matter who we play."

Sophomore quarterback Nick Mullens said the first week of practice has gone smoothly, but there's still room for improvement.

"I wouldn't say I'm 'not happy' with anything," he said. "I would say just continuing to improve on getting the offense in the right play. There's so many situations where it's a good play, but they have a man outside, so I can give them a better play, a better route combination to get more yards."

Southern Miss is set for an intrasquad scrimmage today, but it is closed to the general public as well as media.